Joy in Life

It's been a while, blog. Too long. A lot's happened in the past several months; guess that's expected when you're adjusting to a new season. I'll tell you this though, in the words of Nacho Libre: my life is good. Really good. My life's been that way because my love for God's grown; He's done some awesome stuff lately. Since February, I've been part of the Elevate Youth ministry in Bay Hills Community Church, which has become home for me; church has always felt like home to me, and thanks to my time at Hillsong, that feeling's assured and embraced. These students are the reason I joined; hearing some of their stories and seeing their hunger for something greater in their lives gave me a burden for them, and since then I've been trying my best to be involved and to just be there for them. I want to be the kind of person I wish I had in church when I was in high school; I was fortunate enough to have a youth pastor at my school for a season (one of my heroes, pastor Shawn Allen), but in my home church, that form of leadership was missing. God's been showing me a lot through these youth I get to lead and serve; most importantly it's showed me how much strong leaders of faith are needed to keep this generation safe and secure given the current state of the world, culture/society, etc. Getting back into the worship side of things has been great too; I knew picking up the bass was a temporary venture, and I'm glad to be laying down chords and such on them black and white keys. I've been slowly getting the opportunity to share the heart and culture of worship that I gained through Hillsong's teaching and training; it's been amazing getting to see these youth I play alongside growing in their passion for worship. One thing that's been a bit rough was the whole university thing. Most of the people I've known growing up are aware of my passion for art. Most people I know now were aware of my intentions of going to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco to pursue this dream I've had as a kid for working at Pixar. I got into talks with the university in March, and by May I was enrolled for the summer; at the time, it seemed like God was giving me a chance to finally go for the dream. I kept asking him to open the doors he wanted open and close the doors he wanted closed; I figured if it was in his will for my life, it would work out. 2 weeks into my studies, I came to a hard realization: the passion I had for art wasn't what it used to be. The fact is I just grew out of it; sure I doodle here and there from time to time, but it wasn't driving my imagination like it did when I was a child, getting inspired by cartoons to just draw. My passions have changed since then; sure they are art-related, but it's shifted away from the satisfaction I would get from spending hours working on an art piece. What I thought would be an incredibly fun and exhilarating experience learning about growing in my skills as an artist became exhausting, overwhelming, and consuming of all my time and efforts I would normally use for my involvement in church. It became the one source of stress in my life, and it sucked. I couldn't go to leaders meetings or band practices/hangouts because I was too busy trying to get my assignments done, as if school became an obstacle instead of a doorway. The first week of July I committed to prayer and fasting, because I wanted God's guidance in deciding what to do. By the time the week was over, my decision was to put all study plans on hold so that I could be fully committed to ministry. Serving in the church is all I've ever known, it's the one thing I know I'm good at doing. It took getting into that environment for me to see that it wasn't the environment I wanted to be in (I wonder how many of my friends have experienced this). As that week of prayer and fasting went on, I felt like God was closing this door on me, but before he did, he wanted to show me that this wasn't going to satisfy like the other things in my life were. Some people would argue that my short-lived university experience was a waste of time, but I don't see it that way. It was a step forward, regardless of the outcome; it showed me that, true to his Word, God's plans are greater. I believe my current season requires all of my efforts to go towards the church and the youth. I'm okay with that. What you can do, as my friend, is pray for a few things (if you want to, of course): 1. Provision of a job - On a practical note, I live 30-40 minutes away from my church, and I go there frequently. There's also youth events and church related things that happen during the week that I participate in. That's a lot of driving. That's a lot of money used to fuel the car. There's also the fact that two weeks ago, I had to deal with a heavy loss: my computer, camera, and hard drive were stolen from my car during a meeting. That's a lot of expensive stuff I can't automatically replace. That's a lot of money I don't have. I've been looking for a job since early March, and so far it's been a test of patience. Keep me in prayer that I get a job, one that fits around my ministry schedule so I can stay committed to serving. It also wouldn't hurt to be able to take a trip to the Popeye's down the road and not feel like I'm about to be dirt poor over buying popcorn shrimp. 2. Elevate Youth - I can talk all I want about what I get to do as part of this youth ministry, but why I do it has nothing to do with me; it's all about these awesome guys and girls that are learning about living a life for God. Keep these students in prayer, that God would stir their hearts and give them a hunger for what only he can provide, and pray for the leaders, that we can be good examples and look after the youth of our church by being there for them when they need us. 3. Me in general - My life is good, but it isn't anywhere remotely close to perfect. Thanks be to God that I lack nothing, but I'm still practicing remaining humble in everything I do and remaining strong against sin that feels the need to get all up in my face. I desire to be a strong, consistent leader that lives for others and never loses sight of God and what He's gracing me to do; pray that I can press on towards this goal for my life. Sorry for the long read, but if you made it this far, first of all thanks and second of all thanks for participating in my efforts to be honest with myself and with others. I pray God gives you enough to be content with your life the way he's done for me. Until next time!